‘I see day-to-day’ – Spurs coach says one man is still ‘underestimated’ behind the scenes

Tottenham’s academy director Simon Davies has revealed that many outside Spurs do not realise the drastic impact Ange Postecoglou has had on the culture of...

The post ‘I see day-to-day’ – Spurs coach says one man is still ‘underestimated’ behind the scenes appeared first on Spurs Web - Tottenham Hotspur Football News.

Tottenham’s academy director Simon Davies has revealed that many outside Spurs do not realise the drastic impact Ange Postecoglou has had on the culture of the club since walking through the door.

There were quite a few eyebrows raised last summer when Tottenham decided to turn to Postecoglou, with many sceptical about the idea that someone who has not coached in any of Europe’s top-five leagues could steer the ship around.

However, the Australian managed to quickly silence his critics, not only managing to get the side playing an extremely attractive brand of football but also showing that such a style need not come at the expense of results.

While Postecoglou has now become the darling of some parts of the English media, Davies revealed that the one thing that many do not realise is the way that the 58-year-old has changed the culture across all levels of the club.

The club’s academy director said on the latest episode of Off The Shelf podcast about the Tottenham head coach’s impact: “I think it’s probably even underestimated what he’s done. I see day-to-day in terms of…firstly is he a top coach and a top manager? Yes.

“But more importantly, I kind of see, and you’ve asked me questions about [Sir Alex] Ferguson back in the day, Ferguson changed the culture and I do believe that Ange is doing exactly that.

“He’s got class about him, he knows what he wants. We were talking about that clarity of the way he wants to play, it’s not stubborn but it’s a huge belief in the way he wants to do something and he’s had success doing it in the past.

“Everyone is talking about the impact he’s made, and that’s probably external, and it deserves the merit that it’s received for sure. But internally you see what an impact he is having around the club and, for me, that is probably more impressive. Everyone is raising the bar and he has had that impact at the football club.”

The Tottenham youngsters still have a long way to go

There is a lot of excitement at Spurs about the crop of young players currently in the Under-21 ranks, with many being seen as potential first-team prospects.

However, Davies warned that there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that some of them are able to be regular parts of Postecoglou’s set-up.

The 49-year-old added: “With Ange, we spoke this morning. We have roughly a biweekly meeting but we speak in between ad hoc. Obviously, he is busy with all the first-team stuff going on but he always gives you that time. That’s what I mean by the class of the man and the impact he’s had around the place.

“It has to be a close relationship but my job as well is I’ve got to make sure the players are good enough and they are around it right now. It is tough and the reality is our young players have got to be better than what’s in the first team. It’s the same around the country. There’s no God-given right to get in our first team, it’s a tough point to achieve in your career but the manager I know for sure will give opportunities as and when the time is right.

“You talk about the lads getting around the bench, part of that is because they have merited it and part of that is because of the injuries. There’s always that factor there, but they’ve got to do it consistently. It doesn’t just come because you’ve done it for a month, you have to do it consistently just for the next 20-odd years. That’s the level.

“The talent will take them where it’s going to take them but we have, in my opinion, got some top talent in the academy coming through. I’ll always want more of it and I’ll always be asking the question of just making it an even tougher environment for our young players coming through and get even more quality in there from outside because we’re doing a good job in the rules and parameters in which we work within as every Premier League academy does. We are in the ballpark, we are in the right ballpark but I’ll keep pushing.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I would not be surprised if Levy and the Tottenham hierarchy soon increase Postecoglou’s responsibilities, making him the manager rather than just the head coach, just as they did with Mauricio Pochettino.

By the sounds of it, the Australian’s role at Spurs is already broader than the ones that the likes of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte did.

The post ‘I see day-to-day’ – Spurs coach says one man is still ‘underestimated’ behind the scenes appeared first on Spurs Web - Tottenham Hotspur Football News.